Heat sink and manufacturing method thereof

ABSTRACT

In a heat sink and the manufacturing method thereof, the heat sink includes heat dissipation fins and heat pipes, and the heat dissipation fins have through holes for the heat pipes to pass through. The heat dissipating fins also have a notch formed at the peripheral of the through hole and communicating with the through hole, and openings formed at two sides of the notch, respectively. According to the manufacturing method, after the heat pipe is assembled with the heat dissipating fin, press strips pass through the openings and are pressed inwardly to reduce the notch to make the notch and the heat pipe plastically deformed. Finally the press strips are removed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a heat sink and, more particularly, to a heat sink including heat pipes and heat dissipating fins and a manufacturing method thereof.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the trend of pursuing the slimness and the lightness of electronic products, the increase of heat generated inside the electronic products cannot be avoided. To prevent the operation of the electronic products from being affected by the high-temperature environment resulted from the heat generated, the demand of heat dissipation increases day be day. Therefore, assembling a heat sink inside the electronic products directly has become a common technique to improve the heat dissipation efficiency inside electronic products.

Conventionally, a heat sink having heat pipes and heat dissipating fins are often used. Such heat sink is made of a material with high heat-conducting coefficient. With the aid of the capillary structure and the working fluid in the heat pipe, such heat sink has a high heat-conducting characteristic. Since it has the advantage of a light structure, the problems of heaviness, cost and complexity of a heat dissipation device can be alleviated.

During the assembling process of a conventional structure having heat pipes and heat dissipating fins, the connections between the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins are affected by the physical properties of the materials and the method of manufacturing, and the problem of loose connection may occur, which affects the heat conduction between the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins. Since the structures of the heat dissipation fins are more fragile than the heat pipes, the heat dissipation fins cannot be pressed too heavily to fit them with the heat pipes tightly. Therefore, the heat conduction efficiency is reduced. To solve this problem, stat-of-the-art techniques use metallic heat-conducting materials, such as solder pastes, to fill in the gaps between the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins to improve the heat conduction between them.

However, with the rise of environmental consciousness, people are aware that such metallic heat-conducting materials are sources of environmental pollution. Not only during the manufacturing process of the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins, but also after the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins are damaged and discarded, such metallic heat-conducting materials may easily pollute water or soil.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the invention is to provide a heat sink and a manufacturing method thereof. By providing openings at the peripheral of the position the heat pipe passing through the heat dissipating fins, by providing press strips in the openings, and by pressing the press strips to tightly fit the heat pipe with the heat dissipating fins, to use metallic heat conducting medium to fill in the gaps is not necessary. Therefore, the heat sinks having the heat pipe and the heat dissipating fins are more eco-friendly.

To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the invention provides a heat sink and a manufacturing method thereof. The heat sink includes a heat dissipating fin and a heat pipe. In one embodiment, the heat pipe has a heat absorption end and a condensing end, and the condensing end passes through the heat dissipating fin. The heat dissipating fin has a through hole for the heat pipe to pass through, and a notch formed at the peripheral of the through hole and communicating with the through hole. Openings are formed at two sides of the notch, respectively. After the heat pipe is assembled with the heat dissipating fin, press strips pass through the openings and are pressed inwardly to reduce the notch to make the heat dissipation fin plastically deformed, so that the heat dissipating fin is tightly-fitted with the heat pipe to increase the heat-conducting efficiency between the heat dissipating fin and the heat pipe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram showing the structure according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective schematic diagram showing the assembled structure according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective schematic diagram showing the operation procedure according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional diagram showing the operation procedure according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a first partially-enlarged view of the combination of the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a second partially-enlarged view of the combination of the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a third partially-enlarged view of the combination of the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins according to the embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a complete structure according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, which is a sectional schematic view of the embodiment of the invention, in which a heat-conducting base is included in a heat sink. In the embodiment, a heat sink 1 includes a heat-conducting base 11, a plurality of heat dissipating fins 12 and a heat pipe 13 (in the drawings, multiple heat pipes are shown for exemplary purpose). The heat-conducting base 11 has a plurality of trenches 111 for accommodating the heat pipe 13 (detailed descriptions will be given hereinbelow). Furthermore, the heat dissipating fins 12 are connected to the upper surface of the heat-conducting base 11. In the present embodiment, the heat dissipating fins 12 are provided vertically on the heat-conducting base 11 at intervals. Each heat dissipating fin 12 has through holes 121 formed thereon for the heat pipes 13 to pass through. A notch 122 communicating with each through hole 121 is formed at the upper edge of each through hole 121. In the present embodiment, the notch 122 has a shape of inverse triangle. Openings 123 are formed at two sides of each notch 122 of the heat dissipating fin 12. Those openings 123 are in shapes of triangles, and communicate with neither the through hole 121 nor the notch 122. Moreover, a ring 124 is projected from the peripheral of each through hole 121 to press the heat pipe, so that the intervals between the heat dissipating fins 12 are the same. Finally, in the present embodiment, the heat pipes 13 are U-shaped pipes, and have heat absorption ends 131 and a condensing ends 132. The heat absorption ends 131 pass through the trenches 111 of the heat-conducting base 11, and the condensing ends 132 pass through the through holes 121 of the heat dissipating fins 12.

The method of assembling the heat dissipating fins 12 and the heat pipes 13 will be described below with reference to a sequence of exploded views.

FIG. 2 is a perspective schematic diagram showing the assembled structure according to the embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 2, when the heat dissipating fins 12 are fixed at the heat-conducting base 11, the heat pipes 13 pass through the heat-conducting base 11 and the heat dissipating fins 12 to complete a preliminary structure of the heat sink 1. Afterwards, the preliminary structure of the heat sink 1 are put on a bearing seat 2, and press strips 3 pass through the openings 123 of the heat dissipating fin 12. In the present embodiment, the shapes of the cross sections of the press strips 3 are substantially the same to the shapes of the openings 123, and small gaps 4 exist between the press strips 3 and the openings 123. The lengths of the press strips 3 are longer than the sum of the intervals between the heat dissipating fins 12.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are a schematic view and a sectional view of the operation procedure, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, after the press strips 3 pass through the openings 123 of the heat dissipating fins 12, a tool 5 is provided. At the bottom of the tool 5, a plurality of long grooves 51 are formed in one direction, and a plurality of accommodating grooves 52 are formed in another direction. The positions of the long grooves 51 correspond to those of the heat pipes 13 passing through the heat dissipating fins 12, and the positions of the accommodating grooves 52 correspond to those of the heat dissipating fins 12. When the tool 5 is pressed downwardly (as shown by the arrow in the drawing), the heat dissipating fins 12 are accommodated in the accommodating grooves 52 to maintain the completeness of the heat dissipating fins 12.

FIG. 5 to FIG. 7 are partially-enlarged views showing the sequence of combining the heat pipes and the heat dissipating fins. When the tool 5 is pressed toward the inside of the heat sink 1, the heat dissipating fins 12 are accommodated in the accommodating grooves 52, and the tops of the long grooves 51 correspond to the positions of the press strips 3, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 6, when the tool 5 is pressed downwardly, the tops of the long grooves 51 touch the press strips 3 first. If the tool 5 keeps moving downwardly, the press strips 3 are pushed to move toward the notches 122, so that the notches 122 are reduced by the pressing force of the tool 5, and the peripherals of the through holes 121 of the heat dissipating fins 12 are plastically deformed toward the condensing ends 132 of the heat pipes 13 to make the heat dissipating fins 12 tightly-fit with the heat pipes 13, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 7. This improves the heat-conducting efficiency between the condensing ends 132 of the heat pipes 13 and the heat dissipating fins 12, and eliminates the necessity of the assistance of any heat conducting medium. Finally, after the tool 5 is removed from the heat sink 1, the press strips 3 are removed from the openings 123 to finish the assembled structure of the heat dissipating fins 12 and the heat pipes 13, as shown by the sectional view of FIG. 8.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope of the invention. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above. 

1. A method of manufacturing a heat sink having a heat dissipation fin, the heat dissipation fin having a through hole for a heat pipe to pass through, a notch formed at the peripheral of the through hole and communicating with the through hole, and openings located at two sides of the notch, respectively, the method comprising: making the heat pipe pass through the through hole; making press strips pass through the openings, respectively; pressing the press strips to reduce the notch to make the heat dissipation fin plastically deformed; and removing the press strips.
 2. The method of manufacturing the heat sink according to claim 1, wherein the step of pressing the press strips to reduce the notch to make the notch and the heat pipe plastically deformed comprises making the notch tightly-fitted with the peripheral of the heat pipe.
 3. A heat sink, comprising: a heat pipe; and a plurality of heat dissipation fins, each of which has a through hole for the heat pipe to pass through, a notch formed at the peripheral of the through hole and communicating with the through hole, and openings located at two sides of the notch, respectively, the notch being reduced to make the heat dissipation fin plastically deformed, wherein press strips pass through the openings, respectively, and the press strips are pressed to reduce the notch to make the heat dissipation fin plastically deformed.
 4. The heat sink according to claim 3, wherein a ring is projected from the peripheral of the through hole to press the heat pipe.
 5. The heat sink according to claim 3, wherein the openings are in the shapes of reverse triangles.
 6. The heat sink according to claim 3, wherein the press strips are triangular posts.
 7. The heat sink according to claim 3, wherein the shapes of the cross sections of the press strips are substantially the same to those of the openings. 